


Lake Superior, November 10, 1975

by Katzedecimal



Series: Heaven Is Mean To Aziraphale [4]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens (TV) RPF
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Songfic, emotional support demon, song: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27502657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katzedecimal/pseuds/Katzedecimal
Summary: Heaven sent Aziraphale to Observe another Act of God and this time, Crowley has a mission of his own.  And one singer-songwriter was in the right place, at the right time.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Heaven Is Mean To Aziraphale [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1480364
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	Lake Superior, November 10, 1975

”Twenty-nine souls, lost… All twenty-nine…”

”I’m sorry, Angel. I couldn’t help any of them.”

_Which is when I glanced up, you see. There were two of them, a plump old man in an old-fashioned suit and a bow-tie, and a taller man with red hair and a mustache. I think they might have been the same age, actually? I think the shorter guy looked older because of his hair, which was nearly white. And the tall guy was wearing sunglasses, even though it was well after sunset. Anyhow, they took their drinks and sat down at the table across from me._

_The tall one in the sunglasses started grumbling and said,_ “I hate these Observations,” _The one in the bow tie just nodded and sipped his drink in broody silence. ‘Broody silence’, that’s real, I’ve witnessed it. Then Sunglasses said,_ “I’m sorry, Angel. I couldn’t do anything, this time. Not this time.”

_Bow Tie just sighed and said,_ “I know it, my dear. It’s enough that you’re here. These missions, they leave me so wretched.”

_The rhythm of that sentence, the cadence of it, I just could **not** get my mind off it. It just sank its teeth into me._

_The man in sunglasses sighed and pushed his hand through his hair and he said,_ “They say Gichigami never gives up its dead when the storms of November come calling.”

_And Bow Tie said,_ “Who says that?”

_Sunglasses waved his glass at the lake outside the window and said,_ “The Chippewa-speaking peoples. They have a lot of legends about this lake.”

_Bow-Tie nodded into his cup, again. He looked haunted._ “The hardest of all is hearing their prayers as they fall, and to know I can do nothing for them.”

_Sunglasses snorted at that._ “Yeah. Where’s the love of God go when the waves are turning minutes into hours? We both know the answer to that one.”

_I **had** to write that down, it was just, just **haunting** me! Even now, the perfection of that line still haunts me. When I looked up again, Bow Tie was weeping silently and Sunglasses was holding his hand and speaking quietly to him. I think he might have lost someone in the wreck, the poor guy. And I think Sunglasses and him might have been… you know… ‘Cause even with his sunglasses on, you could tell he really cared for the other guy._

_Anyhow, they talked quietly for a bit then Bow Tie said,_ “There was nothing you could do, my dear. The water was far too rough.”

_Sunglasses took a long drag off of his cigarette. He looked reluctant, like he didn’t want to say something._ “It’s not just that. Some of those souls… that witch Dagon had them ear-marked. She was coming up to steal them. I told her Heaven had sent you in to oversee the operation but she decided to risk it.” _He took a deep swallow of his wine, like it was liquid courage, eh?_ “So I told her I’d distract you.”

_The way he was acting, it was like he thought Bow Tie would have a conniption, like really freak out angry. But no, Bow Tie just nodded and smiled in a sad way and he patted Sunglasses’ hand and said,_ “Just as you should, my dear. **Most** of them went to my side’s way but if some had already been marked for your side, well… That’s just part of the Plan, isn’t it? Your people have a part to play in it, too. It’s not for me to interfere with the Plan.”

_Sunglasses snorted hard at this and said,_ “Yeah, sod the fucking Plan.”

_Which apparently shocked Bow Tie 'cause he gasped,_ “Crowley!”

_And Sunglasses said,_ “Angel…” _Which is another reason why I think they might have been, you know, a couple. Anyhow, Sunglasses stubbed out his cigarette and drained his glass, thumped it onto the table and said,_ “Let’s just get you home, Angel. You’ve Observed enough for one night.”

_The idea of a witch coming stealing just gripped me and I had to write it down. When I looked up again, they were gone. I never saw them leave and I never saw them again, don’t know who they were, but that Crowley fellow - Sunglasses - that one sentence of his just fired through me. And Bow Tie’s cadences, both of those men, they were just… The ideas just wouldn’t leave me alone, I played around with them for two weeks, then I saw that misspelled headline and it all came spilling out and there was the song. And that’s it, that’s the truth of how I came to write it. I never told anyone about those two men in the bar. I talk about the headline but I never talk about the men in the bar, the men who gave me the cadence and the rhythm and the lines._

_Sometimes I wish I could thank them. But mostly… Mostly, I just feel like I was blessed._

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the anniversary of the event. I don't usually write RPF, but this wouldn't let me go.


End file.
